In addition to this, Willy Wonka is represented as a dictator with sinister undertones that many readers fail to realise. As Stalin and Lenin did, for example, he restricts freedom of speech, refusing to listen to complaints or questions. For example when Mike Teavee asks why Wonka makes gum in his factory if he thinks “it is so disgusting,” Wonka replies “I do wish you wouldn’t mumble.” This is repeated throughout the book with Wonka claiming that he is “a little deaf in my left ear” and telling the children “Don’t argue…. It’s such a waste of precious time!” Furthermore, the chocolate factory is used as a metaphor for the corrupt communist system whose government holds monopolies over the people. For example, Grandpa Joe describes how “the chocolates… have become more fantastic and delicious…. [and nobody] else is able to copy it,” and later implies that the competition is merely a ploy to earn more money because “The whole world will be searching for those Golden Tickets…. He’ll sell more than ever before!” Though this is a criticism of corrupt communist systems, however, in reality it is a feature of capitalist systems with companies such as Microsoft accused of having monopolies over computer systems, and media ‘moguls’ such as Rupert Murdoch in effect controlling freedom of speech.
Additionally, his treatment of the Oompa- Loompas is questionable. This is particularly true of the original version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory which was criticised by writers such as Eleanor Cameron. Her primary concern was the Oompa- Loompas, who were originally African Pygmies working for a wage of cacao beans, singing songs akin to war chants, and allowing themselves to be experimented on “like laboratory animals” by Wonka. Though it “didn’t occur to me that my depiction of the Oompa- Loompas was racist,” Dahl revised the book in sympathy with the NAACP and other critics to create dwarves with “rosy white” skin and “funny long hair” who came from “Loompaland.” This was further revised in 1971 for the film to green- haired, orange skinned midgets, rendering it as politically- correct as possible and through doing so altering images created without malicious intent. If taken as racist creations, however, Dahl’s portrayal of Wonka is akin to Hitler, who also experimented on the disabled; rendering the novel “surreal,” “disturbing” and “macabre.”
The critics of Dahl’s work, however, often read too much into what really appears to be an exciting, magical fantasy world. For example, Wonka is more of a father than slave- master to the Oompa- Loompas, saving them from “thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world,” and finding it “very sad” that one of the volunteers who drank Fizzy Lifting Drinks disappears forever; written perhaps, as Pierce suggests, in response to Lois Kulb Bouchard’s comment that “a Black man floats away to his death stupidly silent, and no one among his family or friends misses him.” Though some have tried to read racism into Dahl’s other works such as the originally black- skinned Fleshlumpeater in The BFG, and sexism in his portrayal of women such as Trunchball in Matilda, his creations are probably nothing more than fantasy figures; white males, such as Matilda’s father, receive similar treatment. Therefore the treatment of Dahl’s novel is akin to what Jeremy Clarkson bemoans about today’s society- that it is too politically correct; for example calling Siamese twins “conjoined twins.”
It is possible to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a Victorian morality play not only in setting with the “great iron gates” and huge chimneys reminiscent of an English factory during the Industrial Revolution, but also in message with Wonka summing up the “moral” of the story in the final few pages, telling Charlie that “I want a good sensible loving child.” It is also possible to see is as an analogy of a corrupt communist dictatorship with the “evil” dictator gradually disposing of those he dislikes; thereby bringing relevance by comparison with today’s international politics. Though it is interesting to read subtleties such as these into the plot, however, it is likely that it is possible to read them into any fictional novel. I would prefer to continue to read it as a magical novel that inspired my imagination from childhood onwards, written with no racist malice or cruel intent.
Bibliography
1.) Campion, James at
Clarkson, Jeremy, “Let’s break all Tony’s laws” in “The Sunday Times News Review,” 12th December 2004
2.) Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 16
3.) Dahl in West, 1988
4.) Dahl, “James and The Giant Peach”
5.) Dahl, “Matilda”
6.) Dahl, “The BFG”
7.) Howard, Kristine, graduate of the University of Notre Dame in Film, Television and Theatre at
8.) Pierce, Cassandra, “Charlie and the Political- Correctness Factory” (written for a Children’s Literature class at the University of California, San Diego)
9.) Zamarelli, Chris at , writing that “during a discussion of free speech, Chris Champion, the marketing director of Thackery's Bookstore in Toledo, Ohio, attested that the book had also been banned for advocating communism.”
Pierce, Cassandra, “Charlie and the Political- Correctness Factory” (written for a Children’s Literature class at the University of California, San Diego)
Zamarelli, Chris at , writing that “during a discussion of free speech, Chris Champion, the marketing director of Thackery's Bookstore in Toledo, Ohio, attested that the book had also been banned for advocating communism.”
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 16
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 32
Pierce, Cassandra, “Charlie and the Political- Correctness Factory” (written for a Children’s Literature class at the University of California, San Diego)
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 112
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 136
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 100
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 29
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 32
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 76- 79
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 78
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 115
Clarkson, Jeremy, “Let’s break all Tony’s laws” in “The Sunday Times News Review,” 12th December 2004
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 28
Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (Suffolk, 1985), p. 157